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With the TPP agreement now public, we know the actual text of Chapter 28, Dispute Resolution. Everything we have seen in earlier leaked versions is actually quite correct.

The Investor State Dispute Settlement system allows our Government, Government Repreentatives such as the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, local Corporations and even citizen's groups to be sued if they are taking an action that may cost megaCorp money. Nominally it does have to be an action that breaches the terms of the TPP. I say nomially because the TPP is written so broadly that it can be used for just about anything, as our section here explains.

The basics of the ISDS are:

Anyone can make a claim, they dont have to be affected by the action;

There is no screening, the defending party must defend all actions taken against it, allowing for wholesale intimidation of smaller entities by larger ones;

The dispute is not handled under the law of the land, the TPP and it's case law provides 100% of the law on the matter;

The dispute is not adjudged by local courts - even the High Court or in the USA the SCOTUS are excluded;

The court to hear a dispute is convened from a pool of academics and corporate lawyers working for the various companies that are signatories to the TPP, in effect Mega Corp will rule on it's own dispute;

There is no limit to damages, any award for any amount can be made;

There is no appeal;

Leaving doesnt stop any claims outstanding at the time the country left.